The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs can be simply yet accurately described as an amusing book. It follows the misadventures of German Philology professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, author of Portuguese Irregular Verbs, a self-involved yet affable character who is too much the stereotypical academic to be identifiable but enough to be somewhat believable. I particularly appreciate that while Igelfeld is shown as arrogant and bumbling, he’s also shown to be an actually respected scholar. His one and only book may be tedious and ultimately insignifcant, but it is well regarded by those few who’ve read it. The point being that Igelfeld is amusing without being a buffoon.
The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs is the 2nd book in the Igelfeld trilogy, the first one is called Portuguese Irregular Verbs and tomorrow I’ll rush to get it out of the library. I have a feeling that its pure silliness is exactly what I need to pick me up when I’m feeling a bit down.
Finally, for some reason the humor of this book reminded me of Dom Camillo by Giovanni Guareshi, the humorous stories of a parish Priest in Italy and his arch-enemy the communist mayor. I hadn’t thought of that book in years, even though I named my last baby Camila, but now I’m set to read those ttories all over again.